


Risk

by ginnyred



Category: SKAM (Italy)
Genre: Board Games, Fluff, M/M, Metaphors, Post-Canon, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-09
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:15:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23557426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ginnyred/pseuds/ginnyred
Summary: Alaska falls last.Nico puts up somewhat of a fight, but in the end he's defending with one army while Gio keeps attacking him with three.
Relationships: Niccolò Fares/Martino Rametta
Comments: 14
Kudos: 56





	Risk

Alaska falls last.

Nico puts up somewhat of a fight, but in the end he's defending with one army while Gio keeps attacking him with three.

"Sorry, man. You're out," Gio grins, after he gets a lucky triple five. He doesn't look sorry at all as he moves around his red pieces on the board, pushing Nico's solitary yellow soldier to the side.

"You were brave," Nico tells the soldier dramatically, a hand on his heart. "Your sacrifice won't be forgotten."

Elia salutes from where he's lying on the sofa, half-following the game the others are playing huddled around the board on the floor, half-dozing.

He got eliminated first, almost as bad as Nico at strategy games and twice as easily bored.

Now he's invaded Alaska, Gio has got most of the Americas, while Marti is slowly but surely expanding into Asia. Luca's hold on Kamchatka looks shaky at best.

"You did better than last time, at least," Marti offers with a cheeky smile. He giggles at his own words. "You weren't even eliminated first."

Nico smiles serafically back at him.

He slides sideways so he's sitting directly behind Marti and rests his chin on Marti's shoulder.

"I'm going to help you now," he announces quietly, speaking very close to Marti's right ear, his lips brushing accidentally-on-purpose against Marti's earring.

"Please don't," Marti laughs, but he doesn't shake him off. They're too close for Nico not to notice the goosebumps on his neck and the way Marti's leans back into him, subtly asking for more.

Nico hides his grin in the collar of Marti's shirt and kisses the base of his neck, feeling Marti suppress a shiver.

Nico knows him well.

So well, in fact, that he knows Marti will keep on playing the game no matter how distracting Nico manages to be. No matter how much he likes the way Nico tries to distract him.

Which is why Nico settles against Marti's back, his chin back on Marti's shoulder, and resolves to be patient and wait for the game to finish.

It could take anywhere between thirty minutes to three and a half days. God knows what Marti finds so fascinating in this stupid game.

"It's the strategy!" Marti tried to explain the first time Nico shared his doubts aloud. "How you have to have a plan and, like, weigh all your options 'cause you can't know what the other players will do!"

It didn't sound that great to Nico then.

It doesn't sound that great to Nico now: committing to a plan, having to consider weird variables he didn't ask for.

Maybe he's biased against it for his own reasons. Maybe Marti is simply more adaptable.

... which is funny because Marti spent the whole morning complaining about spiders "infesting" the lake house.

(There was _one spider_ hanging on his web in the far corner of the bedroom, near the window. He's still there, probably, because Elia and Luca couldn't reach it with the broom and Gio couldn't find his aunt's ladder anywhere.

Nico has named him Domenico, they're friends now.)

But maybe it's a different kind of adaptability, the one Marti has?

Nico is not sure he fully understand that thought yet, so he focuses back on the game.

And yeah, _Risk_ is still whatever, but watching Marti play is nice, especially from this close.

Nico likes the feeling of Marti's laugh against his ribcage as he finally manages to invade Kamchatka and gleefully destroys what's left of Luca's troops.

After that, it's Marti against Gio, to no one's surprise.

They learnt to play together, Nico is practically sure. He can tell because they play the same way, careful and methodical, with calculated risks.

They anticipate each other's moves so often it's almost hilarious how none of them can get much done at all. Nico can feel Marti straighten his shoulders everytime is about to make a somewhat riskier move. Can see the corner of his mouth pull to one side in a half-concealed grin.

_You have to have a plan and, like, weigh all your options 'cause you can't know what the other players will do._

It's something Marti accepts more easily than he does, Nico realises.

The need for a clear direction. The awareness one might be sidetracked quite a bit before getting there.

The fact it's all part of the plan anyway.

Nico is often frustrated by this stuff. The big picture is scary to him, looking at it as daunting as looking into a black hole, constantly feeling like he's on the point of being sucked it, of losing control.

Adapting his plans to whatever life chooses to throw at him feels so much like failing he'd often rather not try at all. Throw all plans out the window and live in the now, hoping it'll be enough.

It's cheating, he knows. This is not what Marti meant with minute by minute, it's his own wilful distortion of it.

Marti senses something is wrong.

Nico guesses his posture must have changed somehow as his thoughts ran away from him. Maybe he tensed up, maybe he stopped leaning against Marti, he doesn't know.

As Gio mumbles to himself, eyes on the board, considering his next move, Marti grabs the dice and turns around slightly, glancing at Nico with a slight frown.

"Hey," Marti says in a whisper, so only Nico will hear. "You alright?"

Nico only realises how tense he is as breathes out, slumping against Marti's shoulder, suddenly and inexplicably tired.

He hates this.

He nods. It's not the right time to talk and Nico isn't sure how to say any of this anyway.

Not even to Marti.

"Wanna roll for me?"

Marti nudges Nico's fingers open slowly and puts three dice in his palm. When Nico looks up, Marti offers him a tiny smile.

"I thought you didn't want my help," Nico says.

He tries to joke, but the tone is wrong.

Flat. With a touch of self-deprecation that would be so easy to mistake for accusation. Nico didn't mean for it to come out like that.

He glances quickly up at Marti, apologetic, but his smile is unchanged.

"Roll," he just says, tilting his chin towards the board.

Nico does, careful not to hit any of Marti's systematically laid out blue pieces.

Five - six - six.

Nico lifts an eyebrow at that. It's a surprisingly good roll.

Marti's smile widens, a hand coming up to pat Nico's cheek, a half-concealed caress, and Gio groans when he only gets a three and a four.

Marti loses no time and moves his pieces into Brazil, pushing Gio's aside, grinning smugly.

"Some of it you can't plan, though," Nico hears himself say, and Marti turns to look at him, surprised.

Nico bites his lip. Did he come off as whiny? Annoying? Insecure?

He doesn't know what Marti is thinking, if he's remembering those words he said all those months ago and that Nico has been weighing in his mind for a while now, dissecting them to an unreasonable degree.

"What?" Marti asks. The way he purses his lips tells Nico Marti knows he's not really talking about the game – though what he's talking about probably escapes him.

Nico can't blame him. He can hardly keep up himself. He shrugs, uncomfortable at the idea of having to elaborate.

"Nothing, just. Not all of it is a strategy game, is it?" Nico makes an effort to sound light and casual. It's probably not all that convincing. "Parts of it are just, you know... They happen and that's it."

Marti smiles at that, unexpectedly. All crooked mouth and warm eyes crinkling at the sides. Nico finds himself staring, almost breathless.

"Yeah, looks like you make them happen right." There is something exceptionally fond in the way Marti is looking at him now. Nico holds his gaze because he needs the reassurance, but also he can't be sure he's not blushing.

_Does Marti mean...?_

"We can be a team, I guess." Marti grabs the dice from the board and offers them to Nico again. He's practically beaming. "Roll."

Their fingers brush together gently when Nico takes the dice from Marti's palm. Nico feels warm everywhere at the touch.

"Attacking with three," Marti announces calmly, looking up at Gio with a smile.

Nico rolls the dice.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know what this is, but today I don't hate it.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!


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